Sport: The Flying Fr

In full flight down an Alp's snowy flank, Austria's Annemarie Proell
resembles nothing so much as a controlled crash about to happen. Feet
well apart, arms locked to her thighs, in an awkward-looking squat that
offends purists, she rockets out of the starting gate toward the first
turn. Her motives for that all-out start are direct: "I try to risk as
much as possible in the first few gates," she says. "It makes the
competition nervousI know they watch me."

This winter Annemarie has not only made the competition nervous, but she
has nearly...